Ukraine crisis: Joe Biden agrees ‘in principle’ to summit with Russia’s Vladimir Putin
- Biden-Putin summit proposed by French President Emmanuel Macron as tensions escalate over Ukraine
- Russian troops and exercises on Ukraine’s northern border have raised fears of an imminent invasion
The office of French President Emmanuel Macron said in a statement on Monday he had pitched both leaders on a summit over “security and strategic stability in Europe”. The White House said in a statement that Biden had accepted the meeting “in principle” but only “if an invasion hasn’t happened”.
“We are always ready for diplomacy,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said. “We are also ready to impose swift and severe consequences should Russia instead choose war.”
Many details about the proposed summit – which was announced after a volley of phone calls between Macron, Biden, Putin, Zelensky, and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson – are unclear.
Macron’s office and the White House said the substance of the summit would be worked out by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during their meeting planned for February 24. What role Ukraine would play in the summit, if any, was also uncertain.
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A Biden administration official said in an email that the summit was “completely notional” as the timing and format had yet to be determined.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said there was a pressing need for talks to avoid war, while Germany said Russia should come back to the negotiating table.
“We welcome this initiative,” Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said ahead of a meeting with European Union counterparts in Brussels. “We hope that the two presidents will walk out from the room with an agreement about Russia withdrawing its forces from Ukraine.”
While oil prices fell, Asian share markets pared losses and Wall Street futures rallied as the glimmer of hope for a diplomatic solution emerged.
But Michael McFaul, a former US ambassador to Russia, said he was sceptical the summit would happen.
“But if Biden and Putin did meet, they should invite (Zelensky) to join,” he said in a message posted to Twitter.
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News of Macron’s proposal comes after a week of heightened tension spurred by Russia’s build-up on Ukraine’s borders. Russian forces have been amassing around its neighbour since late last year, something Western countries say is a prelude to an invasion that could come at any moment.
Russia denies any intention to invade, but nerves were further frayed when the Belarusian defence ministry announced that Russia would extend drills in Belarus that were due to end on Sunday.
US-based satellite imagery company Maxar reported multiple new deployments of Russian units in forests, farms, and industrial areas as little as 15km (9 miles) from the border with Ukraine.
Blinken said on Sunday that the extension of the exercises in Belarus, bordering Ukraine to the north, made him more worried that Russia was on the brink of an attack.
“Until the tanks are actually rolling, and the planes are flying, we will use every opportunity and every minute we have to see if diplomacy can still dissuade President Putin from carrying this forward,” he told CNN.
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Belarus said Russian troops would go home from the exercises when there was “an objective need” to do so, the Interfax news agency said.
In a letter to UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet, seen by Reuters on Sunday, the United States raised concern that “further Russian invasion of Ukraine may create a human rights catastrophe”.
“Specifically, we have credible information that indicates Russian forces are creating lists of identified Ukrainians to be killed or sent to camps following a military occupation,” wrote US ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Bathsheba Nell Crocker.
She also said Washington has credible information that Russian forces would likely use lethal measures to disperse protests or to counter “peaceful exercises of perceived resistance from civilian populations”.
Sporadic shelling across the line dividing Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine has intensified since Thursday. Sounds of fighting continued into Monday, when a blast was heard in the centre of the separatist-held city of Donetsk. The cause was not known.
The rebels said on Monday that two civilians were killed in shelling by Kyiv government forces, Russia’s RIA news agency reported. Russian media reported 61,000 evacuees from east Ukraine had crossed into Russia.
Kyiv has accused pro-Russian forces of shelling their own compatriots in the breakaway region to blame the attacks on Ukrainian government forces.
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Western countries are preparing sanctions they say would be wide-reaching against Russian companies and individuals in case of an invasion.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told the BBC such measures could include restrictions on Russian businesses’ access to the dollar and the pound.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told German broadcaster ARD that Russia “would in principle be cut off from the international financial markets” and be cut off from major European exports.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said it was time for the West to implement at least part of the sanctions it has prepared.
The Biden administration has refused to do so, saying their deterrent effect would be lost if they were used too soon.
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse
